Display card



H. M. OWENS 2,259,772

DISPLAY CARD Filed April 7, 1939 Patented Oct. 21, 1941 15 UNITED STATES PATENTX OFFICE' 2,259,772 f i I DISPLAY CARD Harvey M. Owens, Leominster, Mass. I} Application April 1, 1939, SerialNo. 266,621

1 Claim.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application, Serial No. 172,587, filed Nov. 3,1937, now Patent No. 2,166,766.

This invention relates to a. card, on the surface of which articles to be sold can be'displayed on store counters and the like.

The principal objects. of this invention are to provide a display card in which the toothbrushes, or the like, can be placed with a maximum of speed; to provide a series of slots in which the toothbrushes can be placed to hold them securely in place while being shipped so as to be in their proper places when received at their ultimate destination; to provide such a card with a simple and inexpensive means for holding a toothbrush, or the like, and especially to so construct that means that the brushes will not drop out accidentally and that any sneak thief will have suf ficient difficulty in removing the brushes to be detected before he has a chance to get away with them and the thefts will largely or entirely be avoided; to provide a holder which is separate from the card and of such a nature as to project through the card; to provide a very simple holding means; to provide integral means whereby the card can be held on the counter in an inclined position, and to provide a construction for this purpose which will be inexpensive to manufacture and which can be folded up flat to enable it to be packed and shipped easily.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a front view of a preferred form of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan of one end of the blank from which this card is made;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the holder which is applied to the card to hold the brush;

Fig. 5 is an edge view of the holder as indicated by the arrow 5 in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a plan of a flat blank cut to form the brush holding slots, and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a modification.

The blank ID, of which the card is made, is formed of a single piece of cardboard or some other sheet material. It has a plane face II which constitutes the main portion of it and that is provided with a horizontal slot l2, preferably extending from one end to the other horizontally, the purpose of which will be explained hereinafter.

At the end of the rectangular part of this bl'an is a convex portion l3 formed simply by bending the card and onthe opposite edges of the card and integral with these convex portions are provided two-flaps. M of a triangular shape, such thatwhenthecard is located in anearly vertical position,'. these flaps may be bent back to support it in a slightly inclined position. The bending, of course, occurs in the convex portion I3 which is substantially vertical. In that way the card itself assumes the position shown in Fig. 1. e

A holder I5 is provided which has a convex projection [5, preferably formed as a half cylinder. Preferably it also has two side projections [1, which are adapted to be secured by past ing or otherwise to the back of the card I I, leaving the projecting portion l6 extending through to the front. The convex part I6 is provided with a hole or opening I9 at the bottom and one at the top. .In this case the sides do not come in contact with each other but opposite projections l8 thereon are provided which extend toward each other. This part just described forms the means for holding the toothbrush, lead pencil, or any other suitable article. These projections or tongues [8 project toward each other on opposite sides for the purpose of lapping over the shank of the toothbrush or similar part of any other object.

In order to remove the brush, or the like, it has to be detached or moved out of its normal position enough to get by one of these projections. This results in the practical elimination of the chance of the article held on this card being accidentally dislodged and falling down from its holder. A more important advantage of this construction is that sneak thieves sometimes pick articles of this nature out of display cards on counters. In this case that could be done only by twisting the brush or other article, which causes the material of which the tongue I8 is made, which is paper or cardboard, making a snapping noise and attracting the attention of the clerk. It also delays the action of getting away with the article, thus furnishing a safety means.

The brushes are held by the tops and hottoms of the openings l9 so that they are all vertical and therefore parallel. If they are forced out of this position, they are naturally brought back to it by the edges of these slots. The brushes have to be turned to a position at right angles to that shown to get them into place or to remove them. The back of the brush lies fiat against the plane face H at the point where it is held by the projection IS. The perforations in the holder can be punched out with the use of one cutter and by one operation.

The display card may be of any desired length and, of course, the passages through it for the toothbrushes, or other articles, are made far enough apart so that these articles can be placed in regular position the same distances apart and can be attractively displayed while holding a goodly number of them for this purpose.

In the drum shown in Fig. 7 the same results are secured as far as the display of a series of brushes is concerned but the manufacture is more simple.

It will be seen that this constitutes a simple, inexpensive device for displaying various kinds of articles and can be folded up by'turm'ng in the flaps I4 into small compass for shipment and storage. They form a means for almost positively holding the article, preventing the danger of loss by accident or theft and display the toothbrushes, or the like, in parallel positions and in an attractive manner. 7

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do 'not Wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claim, but what]: claim is:'

In a display means of the class described, a display card and support for elongated articles, each article having a narrow portion and a wider portion at each end of the narrow portion, comprising a plane blank provided with a long slot therethrough and a holder in one integral piece having the mid-portion thereof projecting outwardly through said slot from the rearof the card, said projecting portion being substantially semi-cylindrical in cross-section, the marginal portions of said integral piece being secured to the rear face of said card and said projecting portion having a series of spaced pockets, each pocket comprising aligned substantially circular openings on opposite faces of said projecting portion, said openings being connected at the front of said projecting portion by a restricted passageway, and the rear of each of said openings lying substantially in the plane of the front face of the card, each pocket being adapted to hold an elongated article in a vertical position therein when the. card is in upright position, with the article in contact with said card, whereby each article is held against falling movement in any direction parallel to the card and against a pull normal to the card.

. HARVEY M. OWENS. 

